Friends, you haven't heard much from me lately on The Masked Evangel. It's all good... no really; everything is good. Life has really been good in Oregon. I'm just spening a lot more time with my new blog 365 Forum. I've really been enoying it, and I think it's been benefitting my church family, too.
Happy New Year, friends! I'm anticipating that 2009 is going to be a good year, and I'm praying Christ's peace and presence in your life.
We're enjoying a snow day. Actually my kids had 5 snow days in a row last week, making their Christmas break three weeks instead of two. On Sunday the 14th, it started snowing at 7:30 a.m. cutting our attendance in half. Then it basically snowed all week long, and we really got dumped on this past Saturday and Sunday. I'm always reluctant to cancel church, but in this case it was basically decided for me. 
We waited forever for tomatoes this year. I don't think our plants had enough sun, which delayed them from turning red. But once they ripened, it was all worth it.
These are two shots from Whitehall Camp & Conference Center, home of Western PA Ministries of the Church of God. The shot above is of the swimming and fishing lakes on a misty morning. That's where Ben spent a good part of the summer lifeguarding. The picture below is of the barn where the youth worship services are held during camp meeting and youth camps.
The remaining six pix are from our cross-country move in October. The next picture is (I think) the only one in this collection taken with a real camera. This is the birthplace of Henry's Fork in eastern Idaho. The river springs (literally) full force right out of these rocks. The water is crystal clear and the water plants are absolutely beautiful. I'm told moose think so, too, but we didn't see any this trip. Some good friends opened their cabin to us just a few miles from this spot.
The final five are of Yellowstone - one of our favorite places on the planet. First, the Gibbon River. We were interested to see the dead trees still standing from the lightning-sparked fires of twenty years ago. We were here just after those fires, and the place looks much better.
Above: One of the beautiful and seemingly bottomless hot springs. Below: This mountain highway always impresses me.
Above: The road to Mammoth Hot Springs seems to vanish into this field of bolders. Below: These are the terraces of Mammoth Spring. On the one hand, the sulfur fumes and the apparent barrenness make me think of what a physical hell would be like. On the other hand, I see God's artistry even here. How can God make something so beautiful out of something so fowl? I guess that's his specialty.
And that's a fitting place to stop. We are anticipating good things for the future. Who knows what my favorite pix of 2009 will capture?
This is a second installment of some of my favorite pictures from the year. And let me remind you, these were all taken with my camera phone. These first two pictures are from Cook Forest again. Above are some steps cut from blocks of Western Pennsylvania sandstone, which is abundant in these woods. Below is a bridge over Brown's Run on the Brown's Run Trail (I wonder how they chose that name).
Below is my favorite picture of all time. I have it as the wallpaper on my phone and laptop. This is exiting the Rockland Tunnel on the Allegheny River Bike Trail. It makes me think of eternity.
These two pictures are from our last Pirates outing in late August. Above is the Roberto Clemente Bridge named for one of my boyhood heroes, who played for the Pirates from 1954-1972 (18 seasons!), earned 12 Gold Glove Awards and was selected as an all-star 12 times. Clemente was killed in a plane crash while en route to deliver aid to Nicaraguan earthquake victims. The bridge is closed to automobiles and opened to foot traffic for every game. We were at the game especially because Janelle and her Sweet Adeline's chorus were singing the National Anthem. That was an exciting evening. Below is Pittsburgh at night from PNC Park Stadium.
These shots are of Will (above - 13) and Ben (below - 16) at Seaside, Oregon, on Monday, September 8th. We had an extra day on our candidating trip, unlimited mileage on our rental car, and we had a great day at the coast. I realize I am especially blessed to have a wonderful wife and two great boys who love me.
More Seaside Beach below:
And this final shot (for today) was taken while waiting for our evening connecting flight from Newark to Pittsburgh on the return trip the very next day. Our lengthy flight from Portland to Newark was delayed because of east coast thunder storms. I just enjoyed the colors and shapes in this shot. Getting seated on that final flight was the first time I was able to relax all day... even though I still hate to fly.
I wrote a day or two ago about my Masters Degree being returned to me by a Good Samaritan who found the briefcase in which it was contained lying alongside the road in Missouri.This is not the first time I've had a miraculous return. [1]
When I was 9 years old, I attended Junior Camp at a Church of God camp ground on the shore of Chautauqua Lake in western New York State. I had received a black KJV zipper Bible as a Christmas gift from my parents just a year or two earlier, and at the end of the week, somehow I returned home without my Bible.
Fast forward a little more than eight years to my freshman year at Anderson College (age 17). How this ever happened, I don't know, but as I was meeting people, a girl said, Your name is Tim Irwin?, and a week or two later she showed up with my long lost Bible. Apparently she had some connection to the camp counselor, who found my Bible, but didn't know how to find me. So eight years later, and 350 miles away from home, I was reunited with my zipper Bible and it's on the shelf next to me as I write (I lost it 41 years ago and it was returned 33 years ago). I gave several Bibles to a Bible drive a few weeks ago, but I couldn't part with that one.
Reminds me of Luke 15. God is really good at finding lost things and lost people.
[1] If you insist, you can probably believe these two events were coincidental, or even lucky. Whether or not one sees the hand of God in such things says a lot more about the person than the event itself. I choose to believe God orchestrated these details to both build my faith and assure me of his extravagant love, because I happen to think God loves me and cares for me more than I can fathom.
We arrived in Oregon almost two months ago. Since we got here, I haven't seen my Masters Degree. I hadn't gotten it framed yet, so it was packed snuggly in a briefcase that I was hoping would protect it from the rigors of moving. I was pretty sure it was either in Janelle's car or my truck, and not on the moving truck, but I haven't seen it. I've been thinking about getting a couple things framed, and my seminary degree is one of them. I've got my office set up to the place it feels like my office, except that there's a blank space on one wall screaming for my Masters Degree. I've consoled myself with the thought that the attache case containing my Masters Degree is probably somewhere in a closet... it's got to be... right?
I'm excited! This morning, our youth pastor Garth Hamilton and I are driving over to Warner Pacific College to hear Tony Campolo in chapel. Tony is one of the best, and most difficult, speakers around. I don't mean he's hard to get along with, or a spiritual prima donna; it's just that the things he says and writes cause me to wrestle with things I've previously taken for granted... that kind of difficult.
I picked up my laptop from the repair shop this morning. It is once again a lean, mean fighting machine. There wasn't anything seriously wrong with it, but it's now running smoother and working better than it has in a long time. I'm embarking on a new season of ministry. Now my computer is as ready as I am. Let's go!
Another Western Pennsylvania Family Camp Meeting goes into the history books. This was one of the best, with great attendance and great leadership, too. This year's speaker was David Shultz, Lead Pastor from Meadow Park Church of God in Columbus, OH. David features a warm speaking style, full of enticing stories and illustrations to reel the audience in and then bring the point home. Our theme was Fly Like an Eagle, and Pastor Shultz really brought it. 
I took my youngest son Will (turning 13 on August 5th) to see The Dark Knight. Don't worry; I'm not going to spoil the film for you. First off, it was a great movie, and we had a great time...
I don't read much fiction; in fact, the only fiction I read in 2007 was a papal trilogy from Morris West (1916-1999). The three books, which examined the lives and ministries of three popes, are titled: 1) The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) 2) The Clowns of God (1981); and 3) Lazarus (1990). I first picked up The Clowns of God over twenty years ago, and have enjoyed West's writings ever since. Don't feel bad if you've never heard of him, even though he's published nearly thirty books.
The Shoes of the Fisherman details the early reign of Pope Kyril I, whose body and psyche bear the scars of torture and imprisonment under the Soviets. Kyril finds the confinement of the See of Peter reminiscent of his days in Siberian exile. Hemmed in by protocol and tradition, he learns once again to submit his will to the will of God. At the same time he befriends an ailing priest and academic, Father Jean Télémond, whose writings were censured by the Church twenty years earlier, and who has been forbidden to teach or publish his research. He has returned to Rome for another chance to defend his work. The quote I took with me from this novel was: If we die to ourselves, in the end we come to live in God. But it is a long, slow dying.
The Clowns of God is set against the backdrop of Cold War, with pending hostilities haunting everyone's thoughts. Pope Jean Marie Barette has a private vision of a nuclear Armageddon, but is forced to abdicate before he can make his revelation public. His fellow Cardinals fear his vision could instigate widespread panic. In examining what his vision means for the future of the church, Jean Marie Lately a Pope wrestles with what faith means for regular people, and whether the rules, constraints and minutiae of Catholicism are not the burdens lain on people's backs from Luke 11:46. In short, he is searching for the lowest common denominator of the Christian faith, and defining the difference between holiness and legalism. Jean Marie's conflict is not confined to the College of Cardinals, but he contends with God, as well as his own will.
Finally, Lazarus is about rigorist Pope Leo XIV, elected to replace Jean Marie Barette. After undergoing open heart bypass surgery, Leo experiences a different kind of change of heart. This softer, gentler Pope realizes late in life how much he has missed by isolating himself within ministry and the church. Sub-plots are provided by two priests, one who discovers he is an unbeliever, and the other battling addiction to alcohol. They must decide if redemption can best be found inside or outside of ministry. Stalked by a radical Islamic assassin, Leo XIV must now decide if he should save himself by hiding himself within the safety of the Vatican, or risk his newfound life by touching and being touched by the people Christ has called him to shepherd.
I'd say it's abandoned, but last summer I saw someone sitting on the second floor balcony. Was it a hotel? A boarding house?
If anyone has any information about this fascinating building, please share.
Through that experience I was chosen to attend EMT training. After my first stint in college, I went back to school to become a Paramedic and worked the streets for five years in Kansas City, Missouri and Topeka, Kansas. After more than 20 years on the sidelines, I still miss the rush and the cameraderie of the fire house.
My absolute favorite childhood hero was Zorro. The TV show lasted only two years, but it birthed around 80 episodes. Actually, I only remember the Saturday afternoon re-runs, because the original series was dropped before I reached my first birthday. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr may have been the original silent pictures Zorro (ca. 1920), but the all time best was Guy Williams from the 1950s television series (later to be Professor John Robinson of Lost in Space fame).
